Top ICE officials reassigned amid pressure to increase arrests

PHOTO CAPTION: Federal agents, including Immigration & Customs Enforcement, FBI and HSI police conduct raids at Cedar Run apartment complex in Denver, Colorado, U.S., February 5, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt

By Ted Hesson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Two top U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have been reassigned amid pressure to dramatically increase arrests of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday.

In a move announced to staff on Tuesday, ICE said Russell Hott and Peter Berg, the two most senior officials in the agency's enforcement division, would be reassigned, three sources familiar with the matter said. The Washington Post first reported the news.

President Donald Trump took office in January promising record deportations, saying they were necessary after high levels of immigration under his predecessor Joe Biden. Trump issued executive orders making it easier for ICE officers to arrest non-criminals and assigned other federal agents to assist ICE.

While arrests surged in late January to 800-1,200 per day, enforcement tapered off in February as detention centers filled up and the additional enforcement teams returned home, two of the sources and another person familiar with the matter said.

Acting ICE Director Caleb Vitello remains under pressure to increase arrests and deportations while releasing fewer people from custody in the next week, one of the sources said.

Trump's border czar Tom Homan said on Tuesday he was not happy with the number of arrests.

"Three times higher is good, but I'm not satisfied," he told reporters at the White House. 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin confirmed the reassignments, saying "a culture of accountability" was needed within ICE.

“We have a President, DHS Secretary, and American people who rightfully demand results, and our ICE leadership will ensure the agency delivers," she said in a statement.

Hott and Berg could not immediately be reached. 

Hott will transfer to ICE's local office in Washington, D.C., and Berg to an office in Minnesota, McLaughlin said.

There were roughly 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally or with a temporary status at the start of 2022, according to a U.S. government estimate, a figure that some analysts say has now risen to as many as 14 million people.

 (Reporting by Ted Hesson; Additional reporting by Katharine Jackson and Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Kate Mayberry and Nick Zieminski)